XDC, a provider of digital cinema distribution services, has received EUR15.3m by Gimv, SRIW and selected existing investors to finance its growth in the coming years.
The company aims to deploy and service more than 8,000 digital cinema screens across Europe by 2015.
XDC is the first company to have virtual print fees digital cinema deployment agreements with all six major US film studios for a total of 8,000 digital screens in 22 European countries. VPFs allow cinema exhibitors to invest in digitalisation with the financial support of the film studios, throughout XDC, deploying entity.
Founding partner EVS remains the most important investor in XDC with a 30.2 per cent fully diluted stake (41.3 per cent not diluted) while SRIW and Gimv become cornerstone investors with a 20.7 per cent and 20.2 per cent stake (fully diluted) respectively.
Serge Plasch (pictured), chief executive of XDC, says: "Securing new funding in this challenging financial climate shows the market potential of XDC’s technology and services. We are very proud that a new investor such as Gimv shares the vision with SRIW and our founding shareholders. With this funding, the company will be able to accelerate its network deployment and to expand its digital content services to the European cinema industry and beyond."
Alain Keppens, head buyouts and growth – Belgium at Gimv, adds: "Gimv is very pleased to further strengthen XDC’s capital and become co-investor together with EVS. Our Buyouts & Growth and Technology teams were able to tap on our knowledge from current and past investments in the entertainment and media sectors, such as Barco, Alfacam and Kinepolis Group. We believe that the combination of XDC’s strong capital base, its financing agreements with banks and its strong support and service offering should enable the company to capture a major part of this high-growth market. Moreover, we are convinced that the company is well-positioned to reinforce its leadership in Europe."
